Africa's fintech ecosystem ready for significant capital inflow

Created: Friday, 20 July 2018 06:48

About US$100mn has been injected into Africa’s fintech and mobile payments sector in 2018, with a significant amount of additional capital to be deployed this year, according to TMT finance, a global telecom, media and tech news and events company

Joseph d’Arrast, EMEA editor at TMT Finance, said, “The increasing demand for payment transaction and lending services are attracting investment from mobile operators, banks and international funds, all jostling to position themselves across the continent.”

According to a recent report by Ecobank, demand for services is also expected to see a large increase along with the growth of financial transactions made through internet or mobile phone which is expected to rise from US$200mn to US$3bn by 2020.

Joseph d’Arrast also stated that regulation, access to reliable and affordable internet and the development of blockchain are some of the important factors which affect Africa’s fintech sector.

“We expect B2B lending platforms and anti-fraud startups to attract most interest from investors. Venture capital funds are playing an important role – both local firms and international investors often originating from Europe or the USA,” he added.

In order to address this growing fintech market across Africa, a number of chief executives and leaders from Africa’s important fintech and payment companies will gather in a dedicated mobile payments and fintech panel at TMT Finance Africa on 19 September 2018, in London.

A thorough analysis of how to grow and scale fintech companies in Africa will also take place earlier in the day at the conference on a dedicated breakout session. CEOs and managing directors from Verdant Capital, goAfrica, Strider, Transsnet Payments, MFS Africa Ltd, One Finance & Investment Limited will take part in the discussion.

Some of the companies to take part during the event include Orange, IHS Towers, Econet Wireless, Millicom Africa, The Carlyle Group, Standard Bank, PAIX, East Africa Data Centre, Ethos Private Equity, Rack Centre, Jumia, Uber, Intelsat, Huawei, Credit Suisse and World Remit.